


Though the Years Go By, Our Friendship Will Never Die

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: A Christmas Peril, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dakota just really loves Cav he can't help it, Gen, Implied Relationships, Inspired by A Christmas Peril, M/M, Mentions of the IOtLD, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-10 12:17:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12911760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Dakota's thoughts through the years between his breakup with Cavendish and his decision to go back in time and try and fix things for them.





	Though the Years Go By, Our Friendship Will Never Die

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title IS a line from You Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story 2. Why? I have no idea. 
> 
> The Christmas special hurt me in a lot of ways, so here's me doing some writing to... be cathartic? (Honestly, who even knows anymore.) Enjoy.

“Goodbye, Cavendish.” 

As soon as he’d walked away, Vinnie regretted it. He regretted eating the stupid eggroll in the first place, regretted the argument that had come because of it.  _ Yes _ , he’d said some things that he’d been thinking for a while, and  _ yes,  _ maybe Cavendish had deserved it, but… walking away? Vinnie had never once walked away, no matter how difficult the other man made his life. Walking away was unheard of. 

(And on an uncharted island in the middle of an unexplored ocean, a mass of emotional clones cried out and yelled at the screen and threw things and demanded the CCTV footage be backed up, so that they could see it again, no matter how painful it was to behold.) 

But Vinnie could never truly walk away, and he knew it. No matter what, Cavendish was and had always been the most important thing in his life. 

Some people might have said it was ridiculous, if they had seen Dakota tailing Cav on his solo missions. (That night, in anger, Cavendish had gone to Mr. Block and demanded a new partner. Mr. Block had laughed him off and told him he could perform on his missions alone if he’d finally gotten sick of Dakota. Vinnie, listening to the conversation from behind a large houseplant, had nearly jumped out then and there. But Cavendish had persisted, and so now, they were both alone until the Bureau could find them new partners.) And some people did. Brick and Savannah had noticed it, confronted him about it, but they hadn’t cared enough to question his shrug and noncommittal answer. 

Days turned into weeks. Vinnie kept expecting Cavendish to realise it had been stupid, to come to him. He wasn’t expecting an apology. He couldn’t, not after knowing Cav as well as he did. He was expecting an accusation, with a thinly-veiled sorrow underneath. That was the way Cavendish was. Vinnie expected it. Loved it, even. 

But Cav never came.

So Vinnie didn’t reach out. Instead, he continued to tail him, to save Cavendish’s life whenever he could and to go back and fix things when he couldn’t do it alone. Cavendish was reassigned a new partner, a young recruit fresh from training. (She was a nice girl, very young, with a ponytail that swished when she walked and a mouth that was always chewing gum. Cavendish was polite to her, and she was polite back.) 

She never tried to go back when he died. Vinnie gave her the chance, as much time as he could allow, but she never tried, so he had no choice but to keep at it. 

Mr. Block offered a reassignment, but Vinnie declined it, deigning instead to work alone. Working with another partner felt as though it would be disrespectful, somehow; in addition, he didn’t know if he could keep his Cavendish-saving missions to himself anymore, if he had someone else sharing his time vehicle. 

Despite working alone, Vinnie rose quickly through the ranks at the Bureau. Mr. Block consistently praised him for his good work, and every single time, made mention of the ridiculous things that Cavendish and his partner had ended up doing on their own missions. (Vinnie tried to smile, tried to laugh. His head always hurt after debriefings. He ignored it as best as he could.) 

Weeks turned into months. Cavendish’s partner requested reassignment. The request was processed, and Vinnie found a glimmer of hope. Perhaps now, enough time had passed. Maybe, just maybe, they could fix things between them. Vinnie had followed him on every single mission, but he hadn’t spoken a single word to Cavendish since the night of the party. 

But Cavendish never came. 

So Vinnie stayed solo, and eventually, Cavendish went solo, too. 

Months turned into years. 

Vinnie’s success at the Bureau had every higher-up singing his praises. And speaking of singing, he was a huge success as a songstrel! He’d gone viral when he’d sung his zoo song for some passers-by at a mall, and suddenly, his face was everywhere. He didn’t mind. It felt nice to be wanted by someone. 

Throughout the fame, though, there was still something  _ missing _ . And Vinnie hated it, because he knew what it was. He still tailed Cavendish during every mission, no matter how much time it took. He kept an eye on him, kept him alive. 

(And somewhere, an island full of duplicates grew and grew, and grew sad and lonely and bitter, because just watching the footage of Cavendish wasn’t enough. It wasn’t  _ enough _ . Nothing was enough.) 

It took years and years for Vinnie to accept that Cavendish would never care for him again, and it took even longer for him to start believing that somehow, it would even be okay. He had a biography written about him, by a man who approached him one day at the Bureau who wanted to write a bestselling novel about the brightest star of the age. (And those were his words. Vinnie had told him truthfully that there were lots of times where he didn’t feel very bright at all.) The biography itself had dug up enough memories of his past, but nothing clicked into place until an unassuming reader asked him about Cavendish at a book signing. 

And then, he realised that… well, he’d been very, very stupid. 

“I’m a time traveller!” he exclaimed, hopping up. And after a very,  _ very  _ short deliberation, he found himself on his way to change the past, and (hopefully) change his future. 

(And on an island in the middle of nowhere, there was cheering and exclaiming and suddenly, for the first time in too many years, things felt  _ bright  _ again. And every single Dakota agreed that feeling bright was the best feeling they could have ever had.) 

**Author's Note:**

> Eh. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are love. 
> 
> Tumblr: deathishauntedbyhumans


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